Pretty.

I was all set to write a post about how lovely the weather is lately and how I'm enjoying watching the flowers beginning the bloom and the trees coming back to life... and then it turned freezing cold and poured with rain just when we had to walk to the post office today. Just as well the girls love their boots and umbrellas!

Ah well, the fresh blooms are still pretty when they're wet!

A Spot of Afternoon Tea

I had a troop of (well, three) kindy kids coming round for an after-school visit, plus their mums and younger siblings*, so needed something good-looking enough for the kids and impressive enough for the mums!

I reckon these banana cupcakes did just fine. I had three bananas becoming blacker and blacker on my kitchen bench and finally got around to using them. Mmmmm, sticky-sweet, gooey, brownish banana-mush...

Any old banana cake recipe does the trick, and I just used plain butter icing (though lemon is always nice too). And my B chose the sprinkles to help make them look boo-ti-ful:



*I do not recommend this. Especially on a Friday afternoon. If you must invite more than one friend around, make sure you know the kids and mums, so that you know they're not likely to throw rocks, break doors, and generally act like crazymen let out of prison...

A Most Australia Ven!

At our house at the moment, thanks to the Olympics, it's all about the national anthem (aka Australia Flag Song!). Here's B's version (with a little help from Miss T):

Australians all in arly choice,
For we are young and free,
With golden soil we sing to choice,
Our land is good by sea...
Our land is all in arly choice
For we are young and free...
In histy page in arly stage,
A most Australia Ven!
In joy for 'stralia let us sing,
A most Australia Ven!

Just read a beautiful script.

I received an email from a lovely fella from the Sydney International Film School, asking me to audition for his short film. I had a read of the script and it's beautiful! A thoughtful and mostly visual religious theme ending with a very thought-provoking image.

My little C is still such a bubba, though, and I wouldn't leave him for the three whole days it will take to film. So, I had to tell him I can't audition this time. Hopefully this little bit of attention I've been getting in the last few months will continue when Bubba Boy is old enough for mumma-free time!

More light play

Noel took the girls to work with him on Saturday, giving me some time alone with the small boy. I got some work done in the morning (I have a job working from home! More about that later.), then took advantage of the mild sunny day to get some exercise and fresh air. Ah, the simple pleasures in life...


Charlie fell asleep in the pram... well no, he didn't fall asleep in the pram, pigs might fly, but I fed him to sleep and he stayed asleep when I put him down which is the good bit... so I grabbed my chance to whip out the camera and play around.

This was a beautiful stark winter tree. Shots of the whole tree turned out boringly ordinary, but I liked a few of my close-ups.

I love how this tap turned out blue-ish. It didn't look blue at all in real life...


I mentioned in the comments of my previous photography post how much I like over-exposed images in photography. This next one definitely falls into that category and I love it. I think it looks like either a painting, or a really old film photograph.

I couldn't quite get the lighting right in this one because, well, there was a tree in the way! So, just imagine that the lower seed pod is a little brighter and the higher one is a little darker...

This one is also boringly ordinary... but i just wanted to show off the beautiful blossom trees I see everywhere 'round here...

Best Roast Lamb Ever.

Huge thanks to the gorgeous and inspiring Chrissy of You'll Eat It And Like It for posting this amazing recipe for a delicious "legga" (as she calls it).

Our neighbour, friendly and generous girl that she is, gave us a leg of lamb that she didn't have room in the freezer for. What a fabulous gift, hey! So yesterday I invited her 'round to help us eat it.

I've never cooked a proper lamb leg before (only those roll roast things and they never turned out very well anyway), and I prefer my meat *really* well roasted, until it's tender and falling apart, so I thought Chrissy's Greek-style legga sounded perfect and easy.

I didn't have any oregano as called for. I only had parsely, basil and coriander, and I don't know much about herbs so I just decided in my random way that coriander seemed like a better match than those other two. On it went with the lemon, salt, pepper and lots of butter...

Really, there can never be too much butter!

Into the oven for hours and hours.... yum yum yum. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the done deal! The house was a tad chaotic when I was serving up, and then we all tucked into it quick-smart.

By golly it was good. When I started to cut into it I thought I'd just about die with foodie pleasure. It was SO tender and juicy and just fell apart under the knife. We stuffed ourselves and then Noel and I kept going back to pinch the extra bits off the bone (our neighbour was too polite for that!).

I see many more lamb roasts in my future...

Do English people ever ponder the insanity of their historical monarchs?

I just watched The Other Boleyn Girl. It's a very good film - I was particularly impressed with Scarlett Johansson, whose acting I haven't seen much of before. I'm just having a bit of a boggle, though, over the frequency and nonchalance with which they used to chop one another's heads off.

It's a wonder the monarchy has survived at all, really.

Proper review coming tomorrow perhaps...

Milky goodness

This blog is about creative stuff, right? Well, what could be more creative than making, storing, and supplying all the food my bubba needs to thrive? Creative, in the purest sense of the word. Quite brilliant, I reckon. Almost as brilliant as creating the bubs in the first place!

Talitha feeding bunny while I feed Beryl.

It's World Breastfeeding Week, as I was just reminded in this post by the very talented Kate at Picklebums. I actually have a badge that says "I make milk - what's your super power?". I really should find it and wear it this week.

Beryl getting the very best party food!

Charlie's another booby-loving bubba.

So there you go. Now you know that I will definitely never be one of those movie stars desired for her cleavage more than her talent - so let's hope I have enough talent! :-)

Meh

The cake was good, but not spectacular. Moist and moreish, but to be honest I was expecting more from those lovely passionfruit. Ah well, it fed and pleased everyone, and that's what counts. :-)

Apple Passionfruit Cake

This cake was inspired by my friend Hayley the Crazy Baking Girl. I pretty much followed the recipe she used there, but I used self-raising flour instead of the flour plus baking powder and salt, and I used Granny Smiths rather than Pink Lady apples.

I also added some passionfruit I'd collected the day before that were just begging to be used in something scrumptious. We love our passionfruit vines, and there's not much nicer than using food from your own garden to add a bit of extra meaning to your baking.

I had four HUGE Grannies so I cut myself a heap of circles to arrange on the top rather than try to mix them all into the batter. Just look at the appley goodness:

I have to admit here than I broke the cardinal rule of cake-baking by taking it out of the oven halfway through the cooking time to drizzle the passionfruit pulp on top. It didn't completely kill the poor cake, but it did mean the cake took a lot longer than it should have.

In the picture the passionfruit seeds on top look scorched, but they actually seem to have stayed quite tender and sweet despite that. If I do this again, though, I'll probably abandon the idea of trying to bake the pulp on top and just drizzle it over once the baking's done.

The cake is waiting patiently on the bench for when my mum visits tomorrow... I'll be sure to let you know how it tastes...

Back into photography

Way back, years ago, when I studied photography (fairly briefly, at commuity college and school), it was still all about film. I still love film but we don't have a film camera at the moment, so I'm learning how to use our digital SLR. Some things are the same, some are very different, and some things I just plain forget how to do. And spending the copious amount of time it takes to reaquaint oneself with the art is nigh impossible with my three small people. So, it's a slow process...
... which all might sound like I'm trying to justify my crappy results but really, I'm just rambling away as usual...

The sun is shining again today (after a beautiful, very impressive storm last night!) so I popped out into the backyard to play in the lovely warm light. I just fiddled about with the camera settings and the light on a few plants.
It was quite dim in this corner of the garden and I loved the way the pinks kept changing as I increased the exposure time. Nothing special but I liked the colours.

Then, I was distracted by far more important subject matter...

Spring is springing... or not!

I went outside at 6.30 this morning (as you do) and I wasn't cold. I walked the big girl over to school, and got quite warm. I walked the small girl to dance class and we both became too hot for our jumpers.

The sun is shining, the gusty breeze is warm, and oh yes, the air smells like a new season. It feels good.

Edit - um, perhaps not. It is now freezing cold, with icy wind and increasing rain. Oh well. It was good while it lasted. :)